Editor’s note: This Pioneer Press first published this article on April 17, 1979.

The real Charlie Brown lives in Minnetonka in a comfortable Cape Cod with a German shepherd named McGregor, rather than a beagle named Snoopy, and the knowledge that he will likely die of the same type of cancer that killed Hubert H. Humphrey.

He once perched atop McGregor’s doghouse to the delight of People magazine photographers, and like his clone is known to descend into an occasional blue funk. But, unlike the Charlie Brown of “Peanuts” comic strip fame — that moon-faced chap with a single curl in the middle of his forehead — Charlie Brown of Minnetonka has no trouble making or keeping friends.

He is still a good friend of Charles Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” cartoon.

The real Charlie Brown is Charlie Francis Brown, a sandy-haired 53-year-old bachelor who once was accused of sassing a policeman because he gave his name as Charlie Brown. He worked with juvenile delinquents at Hennepin County Detention Center until he received early retirement for medical reasons.

Schulz lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., but in 1951, both he and Charlie Brown were instructors at Art Instruction Schools, Minneapolis. Schulz had created a short-legged, round-headed, rather morose lad who needed a name.

“OK,” Charlie Brown said, “but I want to see what I’m going to look like.” He walked over to Schulz’s drawing board and was disappointed.

“Can’t you make him look a little more like Steve Canyon or Superman?” he wanted to know.

Charlie Brown is one of at least three “Peanuts” characters named after Minnesota artists. The other two are Frieda Rich, Minneapolis, the Frieda with the naturally curly hair, and Linus Maurer, formerly of Sleepy Eye, who is Linus in the strip.

Charlie Brown and Frieda will appear at a special performance of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” on Tuesday at the Radisson Inn Plymouth Playhouse. The play runs through May.

Frieda, still an art instructor, does have curly hair. Schulz didn’t ask permission to use her name, but warned her with cryptic “Watch for F Day in the newspaper” notes. “F Day” was Frieda Day, the introduction of the snooty character who prides herself on being a good conversationalist.

“I’m not made the fuss of like Charlie Brown is, but if people find out, they’re usually interested,” Frieda says. She says she sees some similarities between herself and Schulz’s character.

But Charlie Brown, the original, as he likes to call himself, sees more similarities with his namesake.

“Like Charlie Brown, when I get distressed or depressed I go into bed and pull the covers over my head. I’ve been known to stay there three or four days. Charlie Schulz made Charlie Brown very happy when he said, ‘Whenever my good friend Charlie Brown was around we had fun and laughter.’ I’m a terribly insecure person.”

Frieda and Charlie Brown recall the uncertain days in the late ’40s and ’50s when Schulz was sending cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines and trying to develop a strip called “Li’l Folks,” which ran briefly in the St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press. The strip finally took hold, and the name was changed to “Peanuts.”

Charlie Brown once appeared on television game show “What’s My Line?” Nobody guessed he was the man after whom Schulz had named a character. In true Charlie Brown defeatist fashion, Charlie Brown thought he had lost — “No one picked me.”

“On my show, the loser wins,” emcee Gary Moore told him.

The original Charlie Brown thinks his offshoot is part Schulz.

“He’s a lot he saw in himself, too.”

Both Charlie Browns continually confront painful realities. Three years ago Charlie Brown, the original, a very “spiritual man,” was told he had about three years to live.

“No matter how much you imagine how you’d feel when someone says you’re going to die,” it’s not the same as having the pronouncement really made, he said. “There are three things I remember thinking: that I have the love of my friends, that I love God and I hoped he loved me and the hope I would be healed or go to heaven.”

Before surgery for removal of a kidney, Charlie Brown put on his happy face and had a garden party for 200 friends.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

FRIDLEY, Minn. (AP) — Garrison Keillor looked comfortable on the small stage as he sang Christmas lullabies, told off-color limericks and spun a tale about a lutefisk dinner at the fictitious Lake Wobegon.

NEW YORK (AP) — Penny Marshall, who indelibly starred in the top-rated sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" before becoming the trailblazing director of smash-hit big-screen comedies such as "Big" and "A League of Their Own," has died. She was 75.

The St. Paul City Council recently approved $1 million in Cultural STAR grants to 33 organizations, while tweaking eligibility and reimbursement requirements for the twice-annual awards. The rule changes are intended to help small and mid-sized arts and nonprofit groups have a better shot at scoring or even applying for funding. Funding can range from $5,000 grants to $100,000 or...

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said Tuesday it has taken the unusual step of denying denied a permit for a large hog farm proposed for Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota because of the threat of adding to groundwater nitrate pollution in the geologically porous region. MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said at a news conference that he denied the general...

It was supposed to be Lanette Johnson's day off from her job at Best Buy, one she would spend with her then-4-month-old son, Logan. But that day in October 2017, Johnson's manager said her Arlington, Va., store was scheduled for an important visit from corporate. Could Johnson find someone to watch Logan and come in? The day care Logan would...